Workshop Overview |
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About Images and Cameras
New digital cameras have awesome quality for print needs, however the fine quality, high resolution photos are extreme overkill for web, video and general sharing uses. If you know you aren’t printing 5x7 or larger consider taking your camera down to 800x600 size. That’ll work great for general use and still do a decent 4x6 print (medium quality on many cameras).
Optimizing and Resizing: This is the process of creating a smaller size image and file. We don’t have time to get into this today, but one useful tool is Fireworks “Batch Process”. This allows you to take a folder of images and resize them to a percentage (50%). If you’ve take high quality photos then this can be an effective first step before you try to put the photos into a web or video format.
Sharing: There are two basic methods to share your photos. Most all of them feature drag and drop ease of use and many offer a one click “publish to web” feature. In general the easier a program is to use, the less control you have over elements. For teachers and students the easy to follow interface and features make the programs functional right out of the box.
1. Multimedia
Essentially, really cool multimedia software takes your video stills and allows you to create a feel of motion by adding transitions, titles, music, styles, and even narration. Things to remember:
- Based on video. These applications basically work like video editors (in fact some we’ll use ARE video editors). Video sometimes requires you to Import your media into a workspace. Think of this like a bin or shoebox that will store all the images and sounds you want to use. For some applications you can’t use the images and media until they’re imported or put in the box.
- Storyboards. A storyboard gives you an image by image look at the slideshow you’re creating. It’s a good place to add, delete, and sort images before you add any effects or music.
- Timeline. If the program has a timeline, this allows you to see the slideshow in a minutes/seconds view. The timeline view is often the place to add effects and sounds.
- Exporting/Rendering. Since you’ll be essentially making a video, the software has to create or Render the final product. This is generally a pretty quick process unless you are creating a DVD or VCD. A good rule is to try various ways to export your final product to find the one that best suits your purpose.
2. Web Albums
Web albums have been around for a long time. Back in the 90’s web geeks had to resize images by hand to make thumbnails and then link the thumbnails to the full sized image one at a time. There are many software options available that do all this seamlessly. There is a mix of free or fee based services that can do this for you or free software can handle all the steps and you can keep the web album on a network drive or upload to your website. Keep in mind web browsers are still basing content on an 800x600 monitor. For best results your full sized images should not be more than 800 pixels with 600px wide a better choice for online viewing.
Electrify Images Workshop | Overview | Multimedia Tools | Web Photo Albums
Software Compared | Get Handouts (Word)
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